And in the Mexican War of the 1840s, while Henry David Thoreau sat in jail protesting the U. invasion of Mexico and Abraham Lincoln opposed it in Congress, some American soldiers were playing baseball south of the border.

Why was a military general chosen as baseball’s “founder”?

Baseball was even used as a cover and distraction for the surprise attack the U. launched from Japan on Inchon, which drove back the North Korean forces. Against the Vietnam War, however, some ballplayer dissent arose, but it was swiftly marginalized. Baseball has routinely tagged along, for its own promotion and as a distraction and social control during U. Baseball followed the flag soon after the Civil War, and joined America’s earliest interventions, often in Latin America. should “speak softly but carry a big stick.” Sometimes the stick was a baseball bat.

By the time of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, MLB finally, after many tries, got a military general as its Commissioner, which also ensured baseball’s support for yet another U. Baseball was involved in the surrogate wars launched by the Reagan administration in the Caribbean and Central America during the 1980s. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Teddy Roosevelt was among those leading the forces of American expansion abroad. When the bat wasn’t a metaphor for military force, it was instead used to help pacify local populations during interventions and occupations. Yet Pasquel viewed it as payback not only for the Latinos MLB was stealing away, but also for the repeated U. military interventions in Mexico over the years, including a bombing attack on Pasquel’s home town of Vera Cruz in 1914.

While many have observed baseball’s longstanding resonance with U. domestic life, our national pastime has also figured prominently in how America has projected itself abroad—in its foreign, military, diplomatic and globalization policies. Since then, the sport has worked hard to maintain that status.

While baseball was played in America as far back as the Revolutionary War, it was first designated the “national pastime” in the 1850s.

You can thank Malin Akerman‘s dad for the actress’s sense of sunny optimism. You just figure out why and you find the silver lining.” And the star of Showtime’s says she’s found her glass half-full philosophy to be particularly helpful when it comes to weathering life’s tougher moments, including the end of her six-year marriage in 2013. And ultimately, it’s like, ‘Where is the opportunity in this? Like, oh my God, I get to have so much special time with my son now.” That includes mother-son trips to New York City, where Akerman films . We have a joie de vivre vibe about everything.” When it comes to dating, Akerman says she’d love a partner one day, though for now, she’s not “actively looking.” Says the actress: “It’s hard because your heart is so full for your child, the next guy that comes along is going to have a lot of competition!